West Grey council has voted unanimously in favour of keeping the West Grey Police service.
This comes after receiving costing presentations Wednesday from both OPP and the existing municipal West Grey police service.
Police Chief Rob Martin says, “We are pleased with the decision. We are happy that we’re able to prove that we are the effective choice for policing in West Grey and we’re thankful to council for finally making a decision on the process and looking forward to continuing to serve our community well into the future.”
He says now that the decision has been made, work to build a new police station can begin to move forward again.
Martin says a community survey done by a consultant on the costing which was presented today showed 69 per cent of respondents indicated they wanted to keep West Grey police and 17 per cent said they wanted a change.
“Quite the overwhelming response to keep our service,” says Martin, explaining he believes the reason for that is community engagement.
“The OPP are a good police service, but we provide a lot of community programs, we’re engaged in the community. We do a lot of work to build up that community trust and make sure that our officers are seen as part of the community and not just the police agency. It’s the community focus, I think, that makes the true difference,” says Martin.
Martin says the cost difference between West Grey police and OPP that was presented to council showed a roughly $1 million difference, with West Grey police costed at $4.1 million and OPP at $5.18
Mayor Kevin Eccles says, “The numbers from West Grey were absolute and that was delivering the policing that residents of West Grey have required, and demand. There were no assurances for the price that we were given from the OPP through their contract and from the consultant that we were going to be able to get that. There was just a lot of vagueness in that OPP proposal, and certainly from the consultant as well too– where the hard numbers were.” Eccles says West Grey Police had positive numbers for the next five years.
Eccles says the results of the community survey showing nearly 70 per cent of respondents in favour of West Grey Police, were not a surprise, noting, he saw support for the local police service when talking with residents, explaining, “Being on the campaign trail last fall and from the all-candidates meetings, any of that interaction with the public— if it did surprise me, it surprised me it was as ‘low’ as 70 per cent, I thought it might have even been higher than that.”
Eccles added, “The residents have spoken,”
Meanwhile, Police Chief Rob Martin says the service, with its 18 officers is, “Happy to be staying as the preferred choice for policing in West Grey.”